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AFRL Teams Up With Buckeyes

10/7/2016

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​The Air Force Research Laboratory and the Ohio State University signed a cooperative research and development agreement so athletes’ performance data can be used to enhance monitoring and battlefield technology for special operations airmen, the AFRL announced Wednesday. The deal will provide the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, continuous, hands-on access to athletes who exhibit a similar strength and mentality to special operators, according to the emailed statement. The data will be collected using real-time exertion, daily readiness, and heart variability technology and will be used to determine future workloads and specific recovery techniques. The 711th HPW will, in turn, act as the sports science staff for the OSU teams and provide analytics and reports to the coaches. Flotation therapy, a form of physical and mental recovery, will be one of the recovery techniques the 711th HPW tests. OSU football coach Urban Meyer said the AFRL evaluations will benefit his program’s own evaluations. “And that means if it’s not the very best—and that includes hydration, nutrition, training—then we’re going to get the very best. That goes for the full-time sports psychologist to the hydration, and nutrition working directly with the Air Force,” he said, according to the release.